I once had a colleague tell me that a wealthy businessman and member of his congregation privately approached him and said, “I am prepared to donate a lot of money to the church, but I have this one condition. Please stop talking about Jesus so much and just tell me what I need to do. Give me a list each week of things I can do.” He was somewhat discouraged but at the same time bemused at how anyone could ask him to stop preaching about Christ. I know, the first thought that likely comes to mind is that this preacher was only talking about Jesus and never offered points of application in his sermon. This wasn’t the case. The preacher was solid—he preached Christ and applied the text. The problem wasn’t with the preacher but with the church member.
I think this man’s request, while perhaps foolish, expresses a common desire among people in the pews. We want to hear about the grace of the gospel, but we also want a checklist. We want the preacher to give us a list of things to do so we can go home, check off every item on the list, and walk away with a sense of accomplishment. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the church.” Ok, grace of the gospel, check. Love my wife, check. Wash the dishes, check. Use soap, check. Dry the dishes, check. Put them away, check. Am I sanctified this week? Check. Check lists give us a sense that we have fulfilled the demands of the law and that we’ve grown in our sanctification. The problem with checklist spirituality is, however, that there is no list exhaustive enough to cover every demand of the law in every circumstance in life, whether in word, thought, or deed.
The law is simple—it sets forth chief ethical principles. And, yes, we find the application of the law in the various case laws set forth in Exodus, but it certainly isn’t exhaustive. When the two prostitutes, for example, came to Solomon disputing who was the mother of one child, there wasn’t a passage in the law or case law for this scenario (1 Kings 3:16-28). The whole point of the passage is that Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God answered his prayer (1 Kings 3:1-15). In fact, when Solomon issued his famous verdict in the dispute, “Divide the child,” the people marveled at his great wisdom (1 Kings 3:28). Where do we find this wisdom? Where do we find answers to some of life’s most vexing challenges, things about which the Bible does not explicitly address? How do we live out the Christian faith and grow in our sanctification in these difficult situations? We find the answer in Christ. Paul tells us that in Christ God has hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3).
In other words, the pastor can preach the gospel and you can walk away knowing that you must love your wife, but how precisely you do this might greatly vary from marriage to marriage. Loving your wife might mean quitting your job so you can have a vocation that has fewer responsibilities so you don’t have to travel so much. It might mean taking the children for an outing so your wife can get some much needed rest. It might mean studying your Bible more so you can do a better job at family devotions so your wife doesn’t feel like she has to lead them. It might mean you need to tell your wife that you love her more often. It could be a myriad of different things and no single checklist can tell you what you need to do.
If my colleague had taken the bribe (that’s what is essentially was) and given his church lists of things to do, his church coffers would have been fuller, but his congregation would have on the road to spiritual emptiness. They would have failed to see that they needed Christ, above all else, and that only Christ can give us the wisdom we need to know how to pursue sanctification and how to apply the gospel to every facet of life. Checklists can be helpful at times, but never think that just because you’ve checked off the boxes that you’ve somehow exhausted the depths of the demands of the law. Seek Christ in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If you’re a pastor, preach Christ and his gospel, herald the indicatives, press the imperatives, and never cease talking about Jesus. A list will never feed our hungry souls, only Christ, the manna from heaven will give us our fill and leave us satisfied.
